The past year has been especially tough for mainstream Muslims, who say they feel they need to constantly defend their religion when Islamic extremists make headlines.

In November, Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas. Government officials say he was in contact with a cleric with ties to al-Qaida.

A month later, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was charged with attempting to blow up a plane en route from Amsterdam to Detroit.

On May 1, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen, Faisal Shahzad, allegedly tried to blow up an SUV in Times Square in New York. He told authorities he was a "Muslim soldier."

And just this week, two former Detroit men -- Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi and Hezam al Murisi -- were detained, but later released without being charged, in Amsterdam when authorities said suspicious items were found in one of the men's luggage.